On Tuesday, the Hudson Yards megaproject officially opened on the Far West Side of Manhattan. Employees of Coach — “a leading New York design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections,” as it calls itself — began reporting to the company’s new headquarters in a 52-story tower, 10 Hudson Yards.

Kevin McDermott, left, a photographer, and Joshua David, co-founder of the Friends of the High Line. Mr. McDermott is holding a copy of his book, “High Line Nudes.” The new tower at 10 Hudson Yards is between them in the background.CreditTina Fineberg for The New York Times

Mr. McDermott’s photos are startling for more than one reason. Only a decade ago, a photographer and three male models could trespass on the abandoned New York Central Railroad freight viaduct and work without interruption among the asters and Queen Anne’s lace. Today, they would be under Coach’s corporate gaze. (Two of the men did wear boots.)

Mr. Staller’s show contrasts contemporary photos and videos of the Hudson River waterfront with pictures he took in the 1970s and ’80s, published as “Frontier New York.”

It is a distant waterfront, but one that I recognize.

During my brief career at Columbia College in the early ’70s, when I should have been studying, I was drawn to Manhattan’s haunting industrial edge; not seeking sex, though it abounded for gay men, but searching for whispers of maritime might.

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A ramp to the defunct lower portion of the West Side Highway in 1978. The photograph is from Jan Staller’s book “Frontier New York.”CreditJan Staller

From those old piers, I could almost watch the past weigh anchor and steam out through the Narrows.

Pier 50, abandoned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, looked as if it would collapse in the next fresh gale. Its carmine facade was peeling scabrously. I could see sky through the pier shed’s windows. Yet elsewhere, there were still traces of life.

At Pier 42, the Liberty ship John W. Brown was still on duty. It served as a floating annex to the Food and Maritime High School. “School ship officials proudly note that virtually all graduates go to sea,” The New York Times reported.

Over the railroad viaduct, known as the High Line, boxcars still occasionally rumbled through the factories and storehouses of Chelsea. Automobiles still threaded their way over the elevated West Side Highway, which skirted the Hudson River.

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A 2014 photograph of construction at the Hudson Yards titled “Multiform #12 Hudson Yards” by Jan Staller. This was a concrete panel used for the floors of the Coach Building.

CreditJan Staller

From the highway, the future came into view. Near its southern end, where you could still get a plate of chow mein at the Cathay Inn, the twin towers of the World Trade Center were rising.

This was a place Mr. Staller came to love, beginning with visits in 1976 to the West Side Highway. By the time he arrived, the southern end was closed to vehicles, but not to intrepid pedestrians.

“It is to these areas that I have long been drawn, lingering there to meditate on a quality of light, space and weather,” Mr. Staller wrote in the preface to his book, published in 1988. “In the decay and desertion of these rundown places, there is much for me to explore, and I find the atmosphere to be rich in mystery, reminiscent of a lost city.”

No longer. The setting for the “Frontier New York” show, IAC headquarters, at 555 West 18th Street, was designed by Frank Gehry and is home to the corporate parent of The Daily Beast, About.com and Vimeo. Mr. Staller’s work is being shown on a 120-foot-long video wall that can be seen through the building’s sail-like windows from the landscaped boulevard where the West Side Highway once stood.

In a mesmerizing visual essay, Mr. Staller’s earlier photos are juxtaposed with contemporary images of ice floes on the Hudson, construction at Hudson Yards and countless pedestrians on the High Line. “Something new for my work,” he said. “People.”

That’s how much the area has changed. In 2006, you could count the number of people on the High Line with the fingers of one hand — Mr. McDermott and his models: Micky Friedmann, Joshua Parrillo and Michael Remaley.

“There was this little Eden in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world,” Mr. McDermott recalled.

“You felt you were escaping the city when you went to 10th Avenue,” he said, retracing his steps as tourists eddied around him. “I had no idea all of humanity would wander over here once they got off the plane.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: From Decaying to Gleaming: Fast Change for Hudson Yards’ Neighborhood. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe